Sleeping mat



April 12 1927.

S. C. MOREHOUSE SLEEPING MAT Filed July 15 I INVENTOR @MMQZ CTZVflre/maae ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 12, 1927.

SAMUEL MOREHOUSE, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

SLEEPING MAT.

Application filed July 13,1923. Serial N0. 651,260.

- This invention relates to .a floor mat or cloth designed particularly for the use of soldiers .andiothers camping out and sleepingin tents, the main object of the invention being to provide a fioor'vmat or cloth which may be laid upon the ground to form a moistureproof floor for' the tent, upon of digging atrench around the tent inorder :to prevent rain-water from flowing or trickling into-the tent and causing personal "discomfort or illness to the occupants thereof. V

A further object of the invention is to provideafioor mat or ground cloth which may .be 'nrade in sections, for ease and con.-

. use iii-connection with tents of certain convenienc'e in folding or rolling and transporting the-same, which 'SGCUODS are designed to be coupled for use as .a unitary article, and which sections, :incase of their struction, may be attached to separate por- ,tionsof the tent fabric so as to be folded or rolled therewith.

A still further vobject of the invention is ,to provide a floormat having a novel con .structionofintegral inflatable and deflatable over water shedding rim so constructed and arranged as .to allow the mat to be dragged the roughly handled without liability of the seamed edge of the rim being mutilated or Itorn away from the body of the mat and causing leakage or disruption of the rim.

With these and otheraobjects' in view, the

invention consists of the features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being had to the accom panying drawing, in which F gure l is a perspective view of a floor; mat or ground cloth of a form adapted to ,be-used in connection with an Army shel- .ter o r pup tent, the outlines of the'tent appearing in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse section through the mat. or ground cloth on the line 2-42 of Figure 1. v v

Figure 3 .is a view'showing the matisecform of tent. 7

ground surface or otherwise.

tions as they appear when inseparated condition and arranged in proximity to each other.

Figure 4 is a detail view illustrating .a 7 mode of attachment of a .mat section tota tent cloth section.

F igure5 isa view showing a form of mat adapted for use in connection with another 'fFigureG. is a vertical transverse section on theline 66 of Figure 5,

In the practical embodiment of myin v vention, I provide a floor mat ,or ground cloth which is designed to cover the ground enclosed by the tent, and which may be coextensive in size with the area of the enclosed; ground surface, so .that :the marginal portions of themat will fit snugly against allsidesof the tent.v In Figures 1 to'3, in-

clusive, I have shown a type of floor mat or ground cloth adapted particularly for use in connection with an Army shelter or 5pup-tent, the tent being indicated at 1 in dotted lines. Forconvenience in handling andtransporting the mat when thus used,

the mat may be divided longitudinally or composed of two similar mat sections 2, each'consisting of a body madeof some strong and durable air and 'water-proof fabric material, such as canvas or ducking,

coated or impregnated with rubber orother suitable water-proofing material.

Each section 2, which is of a size tocover one-half of the ground floor of the tent,

angles to the rim edges 3 and 4,while the rim edge 6 inclines at .an oblique angle between :the rim-edges 8 and 4, the resulting mat composed of the @tWO mat. sections '2 thus having its side edges 3 straight and parallel toextend along the side walls. of-

the, tent,'its Lend edges 5 straight and on a v transverse line to extend w along ,one end wall of the .tent,and its opposite end edges 6 obliquely disposed and converging along the central line of the mat, making'the mat at such ends substantially V-shaped to conform to the opposite end wall of the tent body. A

isprovided with outer and inner longitudinal rim edges 3 and stand end-rim edges 5 and 6. The rim edge 5 extends at right tent of this typeis, asis well known, composed of two sections carriedindividually bya corresponding .numberpf soldierswho. bunk together, which tentsections are joined together .to form shelter tent for the joint use of the soldiers at sleeping time. The

' other suitable material, which may be insubstantially flattened out. shedding or guard mm 9 may exend upward-.

mat sections 2 are similarly designed to be respectively carried with their portions of the tent by the soldiers and to be laid down and joined to form the floor of the tent at the time of use. Such construction is of convenience in properly apportioning the equipment to the two users of the tent, as well as providing an individual mat section for the exclusive use of each soldier.

The marginal edges or rim portions 3, 4, 5 and 6 of each mat section are suitably constructed to form an upstanding ;kerb or water shed rim. This rim may be constructed so as to be inflated and distended with 7 air for use, to give it proper rigidity when in use. While enabling it to be collapsed so that all portions of the mat may be packed in a substantially flat condition. This water shedding rim may be formed by rolling or turning inwardly a portion of the fabric, as indicated at 7, into tubular or substantially tubular form and stitching or otherwise securing the free edge 8 to the body of the fabric as shown, in which event the edge c5 may also be Vulcanized to the fabric in order to provide an inflatable rim which. will i hold air atthe desired pressure. In the present instance, however, I have shown the rim portion 7 as designed to form a casing for an inflatable air tube 9, of rubber or flated and deflated through the medium of an air inlet and exhaust tube 10, adapted to be closed air-tight by a cap or other closure 11. "Through this tube 10, when the cap 11 is removed, air may be blown into the tube 8 to inflate the latter to the desired degree, and such air may be retained as long as desired by the application of the closure 11. Upon removing this closure 11, the air may be exhausted from the tube 9, allowing the latter to collapse so that the rim 7 may be This water ly above the level of the mat body a suflicient distanceto effectually serve as a barrier against the flow of water over upon the mat, and to deflect the water away from the mat, the mat body itself protecting the sleep er and bed clothing from ground dampness, while therolled pneumatic rim will prevent rainwater from flowing or trickling over upon the mat and wetting the sleeper or the bed clothing. By this construction the access of water'to the bed surface will be prevented even in the event of heavy rains, and without the necessity of digging a protecting trench around the tent, as is customary, in order to cause the water to flow ofi.

As shown and described, the inflatable and portions of the mat upwardly and inwardly and fastening the edges 8 of such portions so as to form an alt-tight seam to the upper surface of the mat body. This construction. or node of forming the rim is a material and important feature of my invention, as by this construction the seamed edges 8 lie upon the upper surface of the mat on the inner side and at the base of the rim and are not exposed upon the underside of the mat as they would be if the same were formed on such side or if the than were formed by turning the marginal portions of the mat outwardly and securing the edges 8 to the bottom surface of the mat body. Mats of this character must be constructed to withstand rough usage and the purpose of constructing the rim 7 as set forth is to give maximum protection to the edges 8, so as to prevent them from coming in contact with roots, stones andother extraneous objects, when the mat, for example,is drawn along the ground, and causing the edges 8 to be loosened or torn away from the mat 7 body, with the result of causing leakage or disruption of the pneumatic rim. With my;

construction the mat if drawn along the ground with its bottom in contact with the groundsurfacc, no possible strain can fall upon the edges 8 and no portions of these edges are exposed to catch in roots or to be torn by stones orother obstructions. On the other hand if the mat is drawn along the ground upside down, the upper surface of the rim will form a contact surface on which it will slide, the edges 8 lying below the with the ground. A mat provided, in a simple manner, with protective features, to prevent damage to vital portions, is thus produced, which may be manufacturedand sold at a comparatively low cost, and which, at the same time, will stand rough'usage'and considerable abuse without destroying its usefulness or impairing its efliciency for the purposes for which it is designed. lVIoreover, by turning the marginal portion of the mat upwardly and inwardly, instead of outwardly and downwardly, and thus disposing the seam at the top of the mat and base of the inner side of the'rim thus formed, the tendency of the rim to flatten unduly under pressure is resisted by the fold of the seam. Hence the form of the rim will be better maintained and its undue depression to an extent sufficient to allow water to flow over prevented in the event that a portion of the rim is used a pillow or the pressure of the weight of any portion of the body of a person sleeping on the mat should fall upon the mat at any time.

In order to adapt the mat sections 2 to be united against shifting out of proper relative position, attaching flaps 12 are secured at their inner edges to the mat bodies and projecting at their, outer edges beyond the rim portions 4. Theseouter edges of the flaps 12 are designed to be disposed in lapping relation and, in order to adapt them to be coupled together, each flap is provided with pairs of buttons or studs 13 and button-holes 14, arranged in reverse order on the respective flaps, so that at proper points the buttons ofeach flap may be engaged with the button-holes of the other flap, thus uniting the two mat sections in a secure manner. l/Vlien the two mat sections are so joinedto form the moisture-proof floorof a tent, they will not only protect the sleepers against the dampness of the ground and the entrance of moisture into the tent, but will provide individual bed mat sections for the-respective occupants, the advantages and conveniences of which will be apparent.

Vhen the pneumatic guard rims of the mat sections are deflated and the flaps 12 of the mat sections detached, each mat will lie substantially flat and maybe folded or rolled in compact shape for storage or transportation. y simply providing suitable buttons and button-holes upon the tent sections, similar to the buttons and buttonholes 13 and 14, or utilizing those which may be upon the tent sections,'each individual mat section may be attached to its individual tent section 15, as shown in F igure a, so

- that it may be folded or rolled therewith forconvenience in transporting each tent section and mat section as a working unit.

In Figures 5 and 6 I have shown a slight modification in the construction of the mat or ground covering, in which each mat is shown as of oblong rectangular form, having straight and parallel outer and inner longitudinal rim edges 3 and 4 and the straight and parallel transverse end rim edges 5 and 6 the mat sections 2 when so formed being adapted for use-in connection with a tent of different shape from that previously described. The outline form of the mat, of

course, may be varied to suit any particular condition of service to which itis to be the tent. As the mats are designed for outdoor use, and to withstand more or less rough usage, their construction as a whole of rub er alone would not be satisfactory, and therefore they are preferably made of canvas, ducking or other suitable durable fabric coated or impregnated with rubber or other suitable water-proofing material.

As stated, the mat is designed to provide a floor or ground cover for a tent which will ensure to the occupants a dry surface to sleep upon, and which is provided with rolled rim or guard edges which'may be in-f thus keeping the upper surface of the a bounded portion of the cloth dry even during heavy rains. By thismeans the sleeper will be protected and rendered more comfortableand less liable to colds, pneumonia, rheumatism and other diseases or troubles due to exposure and 'wet blankets and clothes, and in this way protect the-health of soldiers'and render them more eflicient; and it will also add greatly to the comfort, enjoyment andwell being of campers generally using the same.

Having thus fully I claim I 1. A campers sleeping mat comprising an described nay-invention,

imperforate body of impervious sheet material having the edges thereof rolled up wardly and inwardly to provide a hollow inflatable form sustaining water shedding" rim,with the major portion of the latter disposed within the confines of the marginal edges of said body portion, and the free edges of said rolled rim being secured to the upper surface of the body portion and arranged to be held spaced from the. ground when either side of the mat contacts the latter. i

2. A two-part sleeping mat of the character and for the purpose described consisting of two mat members placed side by side with their adjacent edges in juxtaposition and attached together, each mat sec tion comprising an integral body of imper- 'vious sheet material having the entire marginal portions thereof inturned and secured to the body thereof to form a fixed hollow inflatable and deflatable water-shedding rim vertically continuous with the sheet body so as to leave no spaces for the flow of moisture between'the said .body and rim, and means for inflatin and deflating said rim, the said adjacent edges of the mat sections bein provided with attaching flaps extending under and beyond the adj'acentrim portions thereof, each flap being provided with spaced pairs of buttons and buttonholes, the buttons and buttonholes of said flaps being arranged'in reverse order, whereby either flap may be tucked under and fastened to the other flap.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

SAMUEL C. MOREHOUSE. 

